The VP Racing Fuels National Finals was held at Santa Pod Raceway, England (www.santapod.co.uk/) on 22 & 23 September 2012. The following are just some of the stand-out performances.

Lawrie Gatehouse's Chaos AA/FA went on a diet over the winter in the form of a much lighter body which also lowered the centre of gravity. The car has been driven by veteran racer Nick Davies this year and the mods look to have worked as the car has been very consistent. Chaos made two runs on the Saturday 7.14/216.14 and 6.35/213.81. Nick unfortunately rolled the beams on the first pass as witnessed by the 1.76 second 60 foot time compared to 1.03 on the second run. (www.chaos-fuel-altered.com/)

Martin Jones shoes the Jones and Crunkhorn Another Small Fortune Super Pro ET dragster. He dialled in 6.00 seconds which is as quick as SPETs are supposed to go. Somebody forgot to tell Martin who carded 5.90/200.53 and 5.86/233.54.

Another man breaking out was Richard Billings who drives this beautiful 605ci turbo Mustang in the Street Eliminator class. This car is taxed and insured and the class members have to go out on a cruise after qualifying before they can compete. Richard's first pass was a storming 7.47/204.42 which was disqualified as the car is "only" tagged to 7.50 seconds! His later 7.55/202.56 effort put him, unsurprisingly, in #1 spot.

Ian King runs in Top Fuel Bike with this stunning Gulf Oil-sponsored beauty. He laid down a 6.15/227.04 on his last pass of the day to set a new PB elapsed time. Ian is the 2012 ACU British Top Fuel Bike Champion and the UEM European Champion (for the sixth time!) truly King by name and King by nature. (http://www.kingracing.com/)